CHRISTIAN NEWS FROM RAY
A free service of Jesus Christ is Lord Ministries
News selected and edited by Ray Mossholder
Friday, January 17, 2014
BIG GOVERNMENT NOT GOING AWAY SOON
WASHINGTON – Congress sent President Barack Obama a $1.1 trillion government-wide spending bill yesterday, easing the harshest effects of last year’s automatic budget cuts after tea party critics chastened by October’s partial shutdown mounted only a faint protest.
The Senate voted 72-26 for the measure, which cleared the House a little more than 24 hours earlier on a similarly lopsided vote. Obama’s signature on the bill was expected in time to prevent any interruption in government funding Saturday at midnight.
The huge bill funds every agency of government, pairing increases for NASA and Army Corps of Engineers construction projects with cuts to the Internal Revenue Service and foreign aid. It pays for implementation of Obama’s health care law; a fight over implementing “Obamacare” sparked tea party Republicans to partially shut the government down for 16 days last October. It also included funds for tighter regulations on financial markets, but at levels lower than the president wanted.
The compromise-laden legislation reflects the realities of divided power in Washington and a desire by both Democrats and Republicans for an election-year respite after three years of budget wars that had Congress and the White House lurching from crisis to crisis. Both parties looked upon the measure as a way to ease automatic spending cuts that both the Pentagon and domestic agencies had to begin absorbing last year.
All 53 Democrats, two independents and 17 Republicans voted for the bill. The 26 votes against it were all cast by Republicans.
Shortly before the final vote, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, delivered a slashing attack on Senate Democrats, accusing them of ignoring the problems caused by the health care law. “It is abundantly clear that millions of Americans are being harmed right now by this failed law,” Cruz said.
Unlike last fall, when he spoke for 21 straight hours and helped force the government shutdown over defunding “Obamacare,” this time he clocked in at 17 minutes and simply asked the Senate to unanimously approve an amendment to strip out Obamacare funding. Democrats easily repelled the maneuver.
The 1582-page bill was really 12 bills wrapped into one in negotiations headed by Representative Harold Rogers, R-Ky., and Senator Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., respective chairmen of the House and Senate Appropriations committees, and their subcommittee lieutenants. They spent weeks hashing out line-by-line details of a broad two-year budget accord passed in December, the first since 2009.
The bill, which cleared the House on a vote of 359-67, increases spending by about $26 billion over fiscal 2013, with most of the increase going to domestic programs. Almost $9 billion in unrequested money for overseas military and diplomatic operations helps ease shortfalls in the Pentagon and foreign aid budgets.
The nuts-and-bolts culture of the appropriators is evident throughout the bill. Lower costs to replace screening equipment, for example, allowed for a cut to the Transportation Security Administration. Lawmakers blocked the Agriculture Department from closing six research facilities. And the Environmental Protection Agency is barred from issuing rules on methane emissions from large livestock operations. Another provision exempts disabled veterans and surviving military spouses from a pension cut enacted last month.
Civilian federal workers would get their first pay hike in four years, a 1 percent cost-of-living increase. Democrats celebrated winning an addition $1 billion over last year for the Head Start early childhood education program and excluding from the bill a host of conservative policy “riders” advanced by the GOP.
SENATORS WANT WAR POWERS BACK
WASHINGTON – Two members of the Senate are pressing for significant changes to how presidents consult with Congress on sending the military into war. Senators John McCain, R-Ariz., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., unveiled legislation yesterday that would repeal the 1973 War Powers Resolution, often ignored by presidents of both parties, and replace it with a new law that requires greater consultation and a congressional vote within 30 days on any significant armed conflict.
“The Constitution gives the power to declare war to the Congress, but Congress has not formally declared war since June 1942, even though our nation has been involved in dozens of military actions of one scale or another since that time,” McCain said.
Since the Vietnam War-era resolution, the U.S. military has been involved in several conflicts, most recently when President Barack Obama sent American warplanes to protect civilians in Libya in 2011. The operation touched off a fierce debate in Congress over whether the president had exceeded his authority.
Obama’s initial call last year for congressional approval for U.S. military action against Syria revived the debate.
“Forty years of a failed war powers resolutions in today’s dangerous world suggests that it’s time now to get back in and to do some careful deliberation, to update and normalize the appropriate level of consultation between a president and the legislature,” Kaine said.
The proposal would require the president to consult with Congress “before ordering deployment into a ‘significant armed conflict,’ or, combat operations lasting, or expected to last, more than seven days.” The consultation must occur within three days of deployment. Humanitarian missions and covert operations would be excluded.
L.A. FIRE EXTINGUISHED BUT NOT BEFORE DEVASTATION
Santa Ana winds that fanned a campfire into a wildfire that destroyed five homes and threatened foothill neighborhoods east of Los Angeles relented Thursday afternoon, halting the blaze in its tracks, while police held three men in custody after they allegedly started the blaze. Authorities planned to reopen evacuated Glendora neighborhoods, allowing back some of the 2,000 people ordered to leave the area.
At least 10 renters were left homeless when the fire destroyed rental units on the historic grounds of a retreat that once was the summer estate of the Singer sewing machine family. Statues of Jesus and Mary stood unharmed near the blackened ruins. The main 1920s mansion was spared.
Alex Larsen, 50, rented a room at the estate. The musician had lived there for about four years. “All my possessions are toast, burned toast,” he told the Los Angeles Times.
FAMILY PLANS TO SUE OVER “AGONIZING” EXECUTION
(CNN) – Ohio inmate Dennis McGuire died Thursday by lethal injection using a new combination of drugs. McGuire was convicted in 1994 of the rape and murder of 22-year-old Joy Stewart, who was seven months pregnant. Her relatives were at Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville to witness his death.
She said McGuire, before the drugs took effect, thanked Stewart’s family for a letter he apparently received. Then he said, “To my children, I’m sorry. I love you. I’m going to heaven and I’ll see you there when you come.”
Columbus Dispatch reporter Alan Johnson said that the whole execution process took 24 minutes, and that McGuire appeared to be gasping for air for 10 to 13 minutes. “He gasped deeply. It was kind of a rattling, guttural sound. There was kind of a snorting through his nose. A couple of times, he definitely appeared to be choking,” WDTN quoted Johnson as saying.
Both the length of time it took for McGuire to die and his gasping are not typical for an execution, said Howard Nearman, an anesthesiologist at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland. “Why it took 24 minutes, I really can’t tell you,” he said. “It just makes you wonder — what was given? What was the timing, and what were the doses?”
Speaking on behalf of McGuire’s legal team, attorney Allen Bohnert called on the governor to impose a moratorium on future executions because of what took place Thursday. “At this point, it is entirely premature to consider this execution protocol to be anything other than a failed, agonizing experiment,” he said in a statement. He said McGuire’s family will announce they are filing a lawsuit immediately.
There are currently 138 men and one woman on death row in Ohio.
ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEES ANNOUNCED
With extremely little exception Hollywood has shown its true colors with this years Academy award nominees. Explicit sex, hate, greed, brutality. and filthy language must have been on most voters minds as they selected their favorites movies of last year. One outstanding film – Gravity – was the only film a Christian family could attend that was also nominated for Best Picture. The only other film worthy of adult attendance is Captain Phillips. Here is a list of the nominated in the categories most viewers of the Award show consider the most important:
Best Picture
“American Hustle”
“Captain Phillips”
“Dallas Buyers Club”
“Gravity”
“Her”
“Nebraska”
“Philomena”
“12 Years a Slave”
“The Wolf of Wall Street”
Best Actor
Christian Bale, “American Hustle”
Bruce Dern, “Nebraska”
Leonardo DiCaprio, “The Wolf of Wall Street”
Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave”
Matthew McConaughey, “Dallas Buyers Club”
Best Actress
Amy Adams, “American Hustle”
Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine”
Sandra Bullock, “Gravity”
Judi Dench, “Philomena”
Meryl Streep, “August: Osage County”
Best Supporting Actor
Barkhad Abdi, “Captain Phillips”
Bradley Cooper, “American Hustle”
Michael Fassbender, “12 Years a Slave”
Jonah Hill, “The Wolf of Wall Street”
Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club”
Best Supporting Actress
Sally Hawkins, “Blue Jasmine”
Jennifer Lawrence, “American Hustle”
Lupita Nyong’, “12 Years a Slave”
Julia Roberts, “August: Osage County”
June Squibb, “Nebraska”
Best Director
David O. Russell, “American Hustle”
Alfonso Cuarón, “Gravity”
Alexander Payne, “Nebraska”
Steve McQueen, “12 Years a Slave”
Martin Scorsese, “The Wolf of Wall Street”
This years Academy Awards telecast on March 2, with Ellen DeGeneres hosting for the second time, has particular pressure on it to live up to the increasingly popular Golden Globes. With hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, ratings for the Globes have increased the last two years and drawn good reviews. The Academy Awards have meanwhile struggled to freshen up its more prestigious brand. Expect raunchy and obscene jokes, dresses with necklines to the floor, and lude actions now assoicated with Miley Cyrus.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
TWO CONGRESSMAN ARE THE LATEST TO ANNOUNCE THEY’RE LEAVING
Tom Coburn, 65, R-Okla. announced last night, “Serving as Oklahoma’s senator has been, and continues to be, one of the great privileges and blessings of my life. But after much prayer and consideration, I have decided that I will leave my Senate seat at the end of this Congress.”
Coburn, a licensed physician who formerly specialized in family medicine, obstetrics and allergy treatment, has been battling prostate cancer, and has previously suffered from colon cancer and melanoma. He was first elected to the House in 1994, where he served three terms, and later was elected to the Senate in 2004.
Meanwhile, Representative Buck McKeon, 75, R-Calif. was elected to Congress in 1992 and was previously chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee. He is scheduled to announce his retirement today. His decision to retire after 11 terms was expected, and Republican candidates had already taken steps to seek the seat.
With McKeon’s announcement, fifteen House members — nine Republicans and six Democrats – have said they plan to leave Congress after their terms end.
SOUTH KOREA SAYS FRIENDSHIP WOULD COST TOO MUCH
The North’s powerful National Defense Commission on Thursday proposed the rivals halt military actions and mutual vilification to build better relations. The North, however, strongly hinted it would maintain its nuclear weapons program and urged South Korea to cancel its upcoming springtime drills with the United States.
On Friday, South Korea said it would press ahead with the drills which it says are defensive in nature and demanded that North Korea take “practical” actions for nuclear disarmament if it truly wants peace on the peninsula. South Korea’s Defense Ministry said this morning it would “unsparingly” punish North Korea if it uses the South Korea-U.S. drills as a justification for any provocation.
THOUSANDS OF MISSING PRISONERS IN NIGERIA
LAGOS, NIGERIA – Nigeria’s military says it is releasing 167 people detained in the emergency crackdown to fight an Islamic uprising. Nigeria’s government has refused to respond to accusations that hundreds of detainees swept up in indiscriminate roundups are missing, have been executed, or have died of suffocation and starvation while in detention.
TEMPORARY PRIME MINISTER IN TUNISIA
TUNIS, TUNISIA – Tunisia has sworn in a new caretaker prime minister, Mehdi Jomaa, to oversee the country until it holds a new election following the resignation of his Islamist predecessor.
Tunisia’s Islamist-led coalition government agreed to resign in favor of a technocratic government. Tunisians overthrew their dictator in 2011, setting off pro-democracy movements around the Arab region. Their transition to democracy, however, has been dogged by political instability and severe economic problems.
INDIA WORKING TO SAVE FACE
Congress party was putting on a united front on Friday at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) meet after its leader Sonia Gandhi stalled a push to name her son Rahul as prime ministerial candidate in their coming May elections.
Thousands of Congress party members have gathered in the capital New Delhi for a conclave which is being billed as an opportunity to plot a way to avoid humiliation when the country goes to the polls in May.
AIRLINES DROPPING MANY ROUTES
DALLAS – American Airlines and US Airways will drop year-round, daily nonstop flights from Washington’s Reagan National Airport to Detroit, San Diego and 15 other cities because of the deal they made to win government approval of their merger. They will also end nonstop flights from New York’s LaGuardia Airport to Atlanta, Cleveland and Minneapolis but will add service from LaGuardia to 10 other cities.
American and US Airways will remain major carriers at Reagan and LaGuardia.
NFL STAR FOUND DEAD
BRADENTON, FLA. – Former NFL and Florida State offensive tackle Todd Williams has been found dead in a Tampa Bay area hotel.
The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office reports that deputies responded to the Sarasota Suites late Monday morning, just hours before the Seminoles won a national championship.
The 35-year-old Bradenton native had reportedly complained to his mother of feeling sick on Friday. She found his body Monday.
Sheriff’s spokesman Dave Bristow says they haven’t found anything suspicious, but an autopsy will be performed.
Williams was one of the state’s top prospects after his senior season at Southeast High in Bradenton. He was a redshirt freshman on the Seminoles’ 1999 national champion team. He was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the 2003 NFL draft and went on to play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Green Bay Packers.
GERMANY PLANS TO TEACH DIVERSITY
BERLIN – Germany’s Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches are criticizing a regional government’s plan to introduce “acceptance of sexual diversity” to school curricula.
The plan, part of a wider overhaul drafted by the left-leaning government in the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, is facing resistance in a traditionally conservative region.
Regional church branches issued a joint statement Friday cautioning against any “ideologization and indoctrination,” not least “in the sensitive area of sexual identity and connected personal and family lifestyles.”
Education is a matter for state governments in Germany. The federal government had no comment.
THE PROFESSOR IS DEAD
Actor Russell Johnson, who played The Professor on “Gilligan’s Island,” has died. He was 89. The television series was a classic comedy about a mismatched set of castaways stranded on a deserted island. It ran from 1964 to 1967.
His character, high school science teacher Roy Hinkley, built generators and other gadgets out of scraps of junk found on the island. Johnson later joked that the one thing The Professor never figured out how to do was to fix the leaky boat so the group could get back to civilization.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
WOOPS!
BERLIN – Police in Germany say they have seized a large haul of cocaine after smugglers apparently made a mistake that sent the drug to supermarkets.
Workers at five stores in and around Berlin were surprised to find cocaine packed into crates of bananas on Monday — a total of 140 kilograms (309 pounds).
The head of Berlin’s anti-drugs squad said Tuesday that the crates had come from Colombia via the German port of Hamburg and the discovery was “pure chance.”
German news agency dpa quoted Olaf Schremm as saying that the smugglers had probably made “a logistical mistake.”
It’s estimated that the drugs would have had a street value of about 6 million euros ($8.2 million).
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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Very few people are fast enough to keep up with their good intentions.
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Friday, January 17, 2014